Progress Illinois

How cosmopolitan! The University of Illinois has become the home to more international students than any other public university in the country. In fact, the number of foreign students at the Urbana-Champaign campus (over 5000) is a record high in the history of the U.S. According to the Sun Times, the largest group of international students are from Korea and many of them are in Illinois to study math, science and engineering.

Also in education news, the University of Illinois is seeing its expenses rise as interest rates go up. According to officials, the school is paying $50,000 more a week due to the rate hikes.

But interest rates aren't the only thing on the rise. According to the AP, record-high energy costs, and the increasing price of corn and wheat is driving up the cost of food around the country.

The state government is also feeling the pinch. The cost to fuel Illinois' fleet of state vehicles will be $20 million next year: nearly a 40 percent increase from last year.

In more recent presidential news, the Obama camp has scored another pick-up. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar plans to endorse the Illinois Senator later this morning. Obama now leads Hillary Clinton in endorsements from their Senate colleagues 13-11.

Clinton has recently gained a new endorsement of her own, albeit a strange one. Former Clinton conspiracy theorist and billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife wrote favorably of Clinton over the weekend in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a paper he owns.

More after the jump ...

In Springfield, the historic sites commission has decided to add all buildings from Abraham Lincoln's time to the city's "demolition delay" list. One hundred and eight buildings may be preserved. That's a lot of Lincoln logs.

Meanwhile, the state will collect $3 million dollars from contractors that worked on the Abraham Lincoln Library. Large costs overruns on the Library project prompted a bitter fight between the contractors and the Illinois government. In a new settlement, the state will recoup some of its losses and will not need to pay any more money to contractors.

Earlier this month Gov. Blagojevich announced that the state government would begin testing for pharmaceuticals in Illinois tap water. While we wait for the results, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is suggesting that Americans stop flushing their old prescription drugs down the drain. Instead, people are being asked to crush their old drugs in plastic bags before disposal.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture is deciding whether to allow a California business to establish the what would be the largest dairy farm in Illinois. The Jo Davis County board, worried about pollution and air quality, already voted against the plan, but in this case the state's authority supersedes that of the county. The farm would maintain 5,000 head of cattle.

As if springtime snow weren't bad enough, three downtown blocks in Jacksonville, Ill. were covered this weekend with 500 pounds of liquid lard. The lard allegedly leaked onto the streets from ACH Foods Companies.